Online predator asked undercover 'child' if he was on TV show

By Michelle Casady |
June 23, 2014
| Updated: June 23, 2014 10:03pm

SAN ANTONIO — Two men accused in separate sex crimes involving children had their cases resolved in the 226th state District Court Monday when each was sentenced to prison.

Joel Christopher Remandaban, 47, signed a plea in March related to a charge he picked up when he tried to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex who ended up being an undercover Bexar County sheriff's deputy. The agreement capped his punishment at seven years, and state District Judge Sid Harle assessed a three-year sentence Monday.

Without a plea, he would have faced up to 20 years in prison.

After telling the girl he was “flabbergasted” by her age and that she was so young “you could be my daughter,” he agreed to meet her at a motel where he would pay her $150 for a half hour of sex, documents state.

He repeatedly asked the undercover officer if she was a cop or related to any cops and even asked if she was part of “To Catch a Predator.”

“You know, the show on NBC where they catch this guy who wants to do things with underage girls,” he explained when the deputy said she wasn't familiar with the show.

Prior to sentencing, Remandaban asked the judge for mercy, saying he was going through a very rough divorce when he was arrested and hadn't previously been in any trouble.

Meanwhile, Roderick Lamont Dotson, 23, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the rape last summer of a girl, 14, who had run away from foster care, according to court documents.

Dotson, who later confessed to the crime, made his victim take down his phone number after he had shoved her down into a grassy field and raped her. According to court files, the girl had scratches and bruises on her neck, shoulders, face and back.

In May, Dotson pleaded no contest to the first-degree felony — usually punishable by up to life in prison — in exchange for a punishment cap of 25 years.